Apple is losing its European market share to Xiaomi and Huawei: new report

Apple may be losing market share to Xiaomi and Huawei in Europe. (Source: Apple)

A new report by Kantar World Panel indicates that the number of iPhones sold in Europe in the third quarter of 2018 fell by 1.6%. This may have been driven by increased competition from Xiaomi and Huawei. These brands are also now contending with more established brands such as Samsung in the region.

A new report by Kantar World Panel suggests that Apple is not reaping the third-quarter success derived from the release of the iPhone XS and XS Max in Europe that they are in the United States. Its market share for this part of 2018 dropped by 1.6% in this region. Kantar concluded that this is due to the increasing popularity of Xiaomi and Huawei in countries such as Italy, Germany and Spain.

Kantar also noted that European consumers are keeping their phones for an average of 2 months longer now compared to 2016. This issue apparently requires that innovative features such as those found in the P20 series to induce these people to buy new hardware. On the other hand, the Samsung Galaxy S9 was the best-selling phone in major European markets in September.

Huawei and Xiaomi were also found to compete well with Android-running brands more established in Europe (e.g. Sony, LG, and Wiko) in the report. This suggests that they are also cutting into the mid- to low-tier phone segment in the region. On the other hand, this report did not include data on late-year new devices such as the iPhone XR or Huawei Mate 20 series.